I talked with Content Rules co-author Ann Handley last week about content marketing. She shared this insight:

“With businesses jumping on the Content bandwagon, they have a tremendous opportunity to do some great thing, to connect with their audiences, to be creative! But instead I usually see press releases recycled as blog posts. Or Twitter stream full of broadcast ad messages. And the like.”

Many businesses adopt a Ministry of Information approach in how they communicate with their audiences. It’s an old-school model, where approved messages are disseminated in one direction.

Social media tools are a godsend to businesses with content worth sharing and a connection worth making. Yet those tools don’t work merely as amplifiers to a Ministry of Information model. The audience is no longer captive to three broadcast networks or a “For Immediate Release” press release. Content marketing only works when the content is valued by those who receive it.

16 Comments

I completely agree. I have worked with so many customers who just don’t understand the potential of actively engaging with their audience. They want to play it safe and just push information at them. The customers I have convinced to break down the walls and show they are human have seen some fantastic results! I must say as well that none of them have experienced a massive surge of complaints as they feared. Moreover, when the occasional negative feedback came in, they used it as an opportunity to improve that customer’s experience with the company.

In short, create specific, stimulating content and engage with your audience about it – you’ll be amazed by how much value they can add to the content!

… or the businesses who adopt a ‘content’ marketing strategy – without thinking IF their audience would respond or even be interested in these routes. Many companies are pushing information out to twitter/facebook/there own blog without thinking about why or what they are trying to achieve and then wonder why sales or interest has not increased!

One of the biggest misses with online marketing is the failure to make a real connection with the intended audience. I have so many Twitter accounts that follow me – with no conversation or interaction – based on keywords. On the other hand, when I made a joke about @Sabra hummus and a flavor that I enjoyed, I got an immediate response and retweet. That made me feel more connected with the brand. I now follow two Sabra accounts.

It’s so hard for old-school PR/marketing folks to switch out of that broadcast mindset. I find it especially hard for government agency people to figure out how to use social media because everything has to go through so many different layers of approval before going out to the public. And even if someone has the right intention, the bureaucracy thwarts their attempts at talking with the people they are supposed to be serving. This is slowly changing, but nowhere near quickly enough!

Tom (& Anna): You are so spot-on! I get so many tweets and posts that appear interesting, or from healthcare orgs that look promising, only to lclick through and find another cometely formulaic press release from the Minister of Information. It is painful to see this again and again. I harken back to the old adage that you only have one chance to make a first impression, don’t waste it. There is no creativity or true communication–no push-pull exchange, only a wordsmithed piece of milquetoast that satisfied a committee of anal-rententive, control-freaks. I believe those messages eventually cause a complete loss of credibility…but they still are measuring ‘clicks,’ ‘Likes,’ and ‘impressions,’ touting how many followers they have. All they actually have is a herd of sheep, and many of them, mist assuredly, ‘company sheep.’

Twitter is simply a megaphone for broadcasting a brand voice, so first and foremost, brands need to understand ‘who’ they are. It should then become much clearer what that brand would say. Would you want to engage in a conversation with someone who simply spouts news headlines at you? With the frequency at which Twitter feeds update, brands should be very concerned with how quickly their messages are getting pushed down the feed. In order to be noticed and remembered (and re-Tweeted), brands need to be true to their personalities, sharing authentic messages that make sense to their unique voices.

Possibly this is a ‘transition zone’ as companies realize they need to be there but have too much to lose to go all the way with social media.

There are agencies out there promising great things with digital and social media, resulting in an ROI equvilant to throwing money into a hole. The old ‘its the way of the future’ argument wears thin after a few ‘over promised under delivered’ social media attempts.

If your business sells mainstream products and you can still reach your audience through mainstream broadcast with a message you 100% control, you can see why larger firms are reluctant to give agencies full control of social media.

It will be brands with consumers using the tech, or brands with nothing to lose that will really make the most of new social media. In the meantime, agencies delivering -consistent- social media results will make the investment more palatable.

I have learned the best path is the obvious one. The relationship that makes sense. THen as it is approached and the dialogue has begun–it clicks.

I just worked on a successful marketing and sports event. We had only 3 major sponsors and limited it to just that. 3 logos on a memorable sensible moisture-wicking event shirt versus the cookie-cutter cotton giveaways with 20 mini-logos on the back.

A friend recently introduced her company to the wonderful world of social media. When I asked what her primary goal was for doing this, she answered “well,I don’t know, everyone seems to be doing it nowadays”.
This seems to be all too familiar in the corporate world. Companies jump on the social media brandwagon thinking that this is the big break their business has been waiting for, but if anything, end up muddying their image when they confuse their customers with pointless tweets and status updates that are inconsistent with their positioning. Think before you tweet!

Great ideas this week on the role of content marketing and the common pitfalls that many companies face.

This week’s cartoon print goes to Rachel. She introduced two key insights important to any business considering content marketing. The first is the role of purpose — understanding “who” brands are and what they stand for. This important question shapes the “how” and “if” of content marketing. The second is the importance of listening — studying how readily messages are being shared as a barometer for how much they resonate. And then adjusting accordingly.

Ann Handley has also offered to send a signed copy of Content Rules to Rachel.

Many thanks for all of the insights. As always, I learned a lot from you this week.

Also, as a good example of content marketing done right – I would point to Notch’s stream on Twitter (@notch). Notch created an indie game that spread explosively (Minecraft) and regularly checks in with his to announe, take feedback on, and communicate with his customers, leading to PR that’s turned out to be more effective than advertising.

Not directly related to consumer goods, but it stands out as a great example to me.